Nothing But News
Nothing But News is a web series that airs on AlternativeReality.com and Audience. New episodes appear biweekly every Saturday. It was created following the mass rejection of the creators from other online show providers. Strange claims that he's currently attempting to pitch the show to different online networks, so the show is now on hiatus. Strange had Netflix in mind, but turned on it following recent developments within the company. IFC later pick up the series, and it became AlternativeReality.com's first and only show to co-air on a television network. Following the controversial of The Inch, the show has entered an indefinite hiatus to mark the runners desire to avoid political events. Plot The concluding segment. The News is a parody of CNN, poking fun at their outlandish nature and relentless focus on Donald Trump. Primary show runners like Don Lemon and Brian Stelter are portrayed through their stereotypes, albeit exaggerated for comedic effect. Episodes typically revolve around them trying to fix their reputation while at the same time try to find evidence to bury Donald Trump, ending with them either getting nowhere, getting distracted by something else or them getting humiliated when whatever evidence they find backfires. They would then cut the concluding PSA. Characters * Anderson Cooper (Dwight Schultz): The main protagonist, or a character that appears the most often. He often introduces the segment with a variant of "We'd normally start off with a good evening, but what you're about to see contradicts that sentiment." Anderson holds on to his past as a generally respected reporter and tends to be a bit arrogant and highly desperate if it means getting dirt on Donald Trump, but he seems to be a smoother operator than the rest of his team. * Don Lemon (Cedric Yarborough): Secondary protagonist. Mostly the same as Anderson, but his obsession with Trump holds a stronger grasp on his well-being. Tends to talk about politics, collusion and all else that's similar more often than anyone else, and usually gets the ball rolling on the conflict of the day due to his own ignorance. One episode establishes him as a white man dressed as a black man out of advanced disgust toward straight white males. * Brian Stelter (Glenn Howerton): One of the softer employees at CNN. Tends to let feelings cloud his better judgement and often calls people mentally unhinged, usually after he's caught in an ironic situation. Brian's effeminate and is a closeted homosexual, but feels like he's unable to reveal the latter due to his own paranoid belief that the president is plotting against gay people. * Jim Acosta (Rob Schneider): An egomaniacal pretty-boy who does a bulk of CNN's field work. He blames things like cut connections and disproven theories on people against him, in spite of what's clearly the main issue. * Wolf (John Ratzenberger): A formally well-respected reporter. He often tried to serve as a superior to the others at CNN, but his own obsession with potential Russian collusion brought him down to the same level as those lower than him. Major milestones and disprovals of topics that help give CNN views tend to cause him to take a leave of absence for the week, so he doesn't appear as much as the others. * Van Jones (Phil LaMarr): The persona non grata of the network. Van is easily manipulated, having fallen for Project Veritas far too many times and giving away too much damning information on the network. The others are more than willing to fire him over his gross negligence, but are unable to due to their diversity quota. * Chris (Owen Benjamin): Closer to Don than anyone else. He doesn't appear as often but when he does it's usually done for bromance gags or overreactions. * Tucker Carlson (Michael McDonald): A rival to everyone at CNN. While not respected by the majority, he still comes out on top when it comes to debunking his liberal rivals. He pities CNN and tries to get them to do the right thing, but is rebuffed constantly. Episodes Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Reception The series initially received polarizing reviews. Strange pinned the more negative reviews on left-leaning people due to the show's conservative-oriented presentation. Since season 2, the series garnered warmer reviews, with praise going toward approaching topics in a contrarian, but fair fashion, decent character development and clever writing.